Green Marketing Practices and Competitive Advantage: a Case of Commercial Real Estate Development Companies in Nairobi, Kenya

Abstract

The researcher was investigating the green marketing practices and competitive advantage in commercial real estate development companies in Nairobi, Kenya. Chapter one of the study starts by introducing green marketing as the issue that affected many decision of today’s decision makers in different organizations so as it affects competition in the industry, This study is founded on two theories: Stakeholder theory and Porters five force theory. It is stated in the stakeholder theory that the organization should answer various stakeholders’ concerns, and must perform within the legislative framework established by the moderate state. There are pressures coming from competitors as they turn green respond to the requirements of laws, increased environment pollution and public pressure. Therefore the study seek to determine the influence of green marketing practices, the extent to which green marketing practices , and the challenges encountered in implementation of green marketing practices used by commercial real estate development companies in Nairobi, Kenya. The second chapter deals with the available literature that has been reviewed for the study. The literature is mainly on theoretical foundation of the study which included the stakeholders and porters five model theories, green marketing practices, competitive advantages and finally looks at the influence of green marketing practices on competitive advantages. Cross-sectional research design is utilized in this research. The target population was 281 and the sampling method was simple random sampling to pick 29 respondents from each commercial real estate development company. The study only used Primary data collected using semi-structured questionnaires. Data analysis was coded to Statistics Package for Social Scientists (SPSS) Program to analyze the data and output presented in form of tables, pie charts and bar grams. The study found out that, following the competitor’s green marketing practices and green marketing practices can differentiate your company from other competitors, it also found out that compulsive government regulations and policies and meet the demand of eco-aware customers. The study concludes that, in the long run, to have a successfully business, the philosophy of sustainability in marketing urges the businesses to be more responsive to the environmental concerns, especially the marketing concerns. The study recommends that further research be done on green marketing practices and competitive advantage of commercial real estate development companies in other counties in Kenya. Further research could also be done on other variables of green marketing practices and competitive advantage in Kenya so as to determine the influence of green marketing practices and competitive advantage gained.